Vacation: New Home
by Agent-G
Summary: Based off of BlackRoseApacalypse's story Vacation. AU where Vincent is in charge of a safe house in Canada.[COMPLETE]
1. New Arrivals

** DISCLAIMOR: I OWN NOTHING RELATING TO MARVEL OR BLACKROSEAPOCALYPSE'S WORK, ONLY VINCENT, JACK&JILL, MARY & BENNY ARE MINE.  
  
WARNING: This is based off of BlackRoseApocalypse's Mutant Underground series of fics. Please read Just A Girl, Fighting Destiny and Vacation if you plan on following the story. There is also stuff from my own Reality Trip in this fic too.**

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******  
CHAPTER 1: NEW ARRIVALS**  
  
Well here he was Vincent Freeman, mutant and co-leader of Safe House number seven in Ontario, caring up the last of the supplies to the once spare room of the house to make it into a new room for the twins.  
  
It was a strange few days for him. First he nearly had a heart attack when C (everyone just called the little four year old that) had gone off without telling anyone. When she came back with her 'mommy' and 'daddy', Marianne and Michael, well things just got weird after that.  
  
At first he was a bit suspicious, well a good sense of paranoia helps you stay alive in today's world and he did have the kids to think of. They didn't catch on to the small signal, a scratch to his left eyebrow with his index finger he gave to Rick, one of the kids there.  
  
He led them to a living area and if they tried anything he was prepared to take them out, also if they stopped him somehow, Mary his long time friend, was there with a can of knockout gas behind one of the doors. Where she got that he had no idea, she always seemed to find or acquire things they needed. He didn't know how, but he knew enough not to ask.  
  
But it turned out it wasn't needed. Benny had ran a search on them, and when he had come in at one point with the drinks he had given him a slight nod to let it know they were okay. Not only were those two that had stayed behind and fixed that major problem that the precogs had warned about, but they also told him they had actually met before.  
  
Well an alternate version of himself that apparently was with Xavier and his X-Men. At first he didn't believe it, but she knew a few things that no one else could know about him unless they had met or something.  
  
They also told him about a pair of twins, named oddly enough Jack and Jill, that the other him had helped, and she told him they had a hard time adjusting so they were coming here. It was kind of strange thinking back on it when they first arrived.**  
  
****FLASH BACK**  
  
The twins were led up to the house. It was a nice two story building, with blue paint and a black tiled roof. They were both a little unsettled looking around nervously. It wasn't long ago their parents were killed and they had been taken away to a lab. Luckily they were saved, but the whole ordeal was a lot, especially since they were only eight years old.  
  
When Marianne had opened the door however they were both shocked and surprised by who they saw. "Vincent!" The girl with gray hair squealed and ran right up to him hugging him. It wasn't until that point that he truly believed what Marianne had told him.  
  
The boy, who had gray skin was still a little withdrawn slowly made his way to him. "You look older." He simply stated.  
  
"Remember what I told you earlier?" Marianne asked the boy.  
  
"That this is an older version of the one we met, who was from another world?" Jack said to her. "I'm still not sure exactly what that means."  
  
"Join the club." Vincent said who was still in place from the girl hugging him. "Uh...Jill, could you let me go for now?" The girl looked up slightly embarrassed and moved aside. It wasn't long after that that Marianne and Michael had said their goodbyes.**  
  
****PRESENT**  
  
Now he was leading the way for the twins up to their new room. They had no more spare room so Vince decided to start to convert the spare bedroom for them. Although there was only one bed, with the new funds he was sure Mary could easily get a new set for the kids.  
  
Meanwhile Mary already had her hands full. She was holding C trying to comfort the small purple haired child in the living room. Five minutes after Michael and Marianne had left she had started crying. Mary knew how much those two meant to the child and how much she meant to them, but that still didn't make the pain of C's missing them lighten.  
  
"Shhh, don't worry, you'll see them again." She softly said to her. C was curled up on her lap crying softly, she sniffled a few times and Mary had some tissues for her.  
  
"I know." She said weakly. "But I miss them." Mary sighed, it wasn't going to be an easy few days that was for sure. She hated to see he like this or anyone else for that matter. Looking back on her life from the orphanage that she, Vincent and Benny had come from she never would have guessed that at twenty-two she would be taking care of several children.  
  
But when Vincent had told her that he was a mutant, and after the story she had heard from him, which he later told Benny, she wanted to do something. Then one day the Underground had heard about some of the work they were doing and all three of them joined up.  
  
Their adopted parents were concerned, and well her parents rarely spoken to her since. It was hard on her, she loved them but if they couldn't understand her choice in life then tough on them, Benny's were a little more open minded. Sometimes she was envious that Vincent had never been adopted, he didn't have to go through stuff like that, but she also knew how lonely he felt at times too.  
  
Luckily Benny and Rick their fifteen year old resident was keeping an eye on the two other children Lisa a twelve year old girl with almost white hair and gray eyes, but with a frown always on her face.  
  
Then there was her younger sister Kate who was nine and was the complete opposite of Lisa, who was always smiling. Which was surprising since they lost their parents three years ago, but then Lisa doesn't remember much.  
  
'I can't wait until Liz gets back.' Mary thought. She didn't know how she and Vincent kept this place running so well. Liz, whose full name was Elizabeth but only those with a death wish would call her that, was the other one in charge, she was a couple of years older then her and Vincent but she was nice, a bit of a neat freak, but nice. But she had gone on vacation and wouldn't be back until two more days at least.  
  
Meanwhile all the 'mom' duties had fell onto her. 'I wonder how Vince is doing with the twins?' she thought.  
  
Vince was backing away the few things they had away with them. "So there are a few ground rules you two." He said to them after they had finished. "First don't tell anyone were you live, never talk to strangers, do leave the house unless on of the adults or Rick is with you, and tell the others where your going. Also you go to bed at ten no later, no exceptions okay?"  
  
"Doesn't matter I can't go outside looking like this." Jack muttered to himself.  
  
"Actually the backyard has a twelve foot shrubbery around it and high fences." Vincent began. "Also I talked to the Underground and they're getting a holo-watch ready for you, it should be here in a few days."  
  
"You mean he'll be able to go outside and walk around without people staring?" Jill asked hopefully. Vincent smiled and nodded at the girl's enthusiasm, she jumped up with glee at it. "Jack isn't that great? You'll be able to go around!"  
  
Jack for his part was mainly neutral, except for a small smile slowly creeping up into his face. Vincent left them to their room and decided to gather everyone together to meet everyone. He walked down the stairs and saw C on Mary's lap.  
  
Her eyes were red and she was sniffling. "What's wrong?" He asked concerned.  
  
Mary looked over her shoulder at him. "C just missed her 'parents' is all."  
  
Vincent looked sadly down at the child clutching Mary's shirt slightly. He hand a hand down her hair, well as much as he could since she was braiding it in the back like Liz.  
  
"It will be alright don't worry." He said softly to her. She nodded her head but didn't say anything. She shared a look with Mary and she nodded, she would stay with her for awhile longer.  
  
He straighten up. "Well I'll get lunch ready." He said he was about to enter the kitchen when she heard C shout out.  
  
"P&J sandwich please!"  
  
Vincent smiled and nearly laughed out loud at that. He shook his head then answered her. "Alright then!" He shouted back and went in to start up lunch. With his super speed it was quite easy he just hoped that the twins liked it.  
  
He didn't know what they liked but he hoped this would do it. He decided to walked up the stairs and get them, but before that he headed to the backyard. He saw Benny, Rick and the two other girls outside.  
  
"Hey guys lunch is ready." He said over to them. "Oh and don't take off, I want everyone in the kitchen to meet the twins alright?"  
  
"Sure thing big brother." Rick said. Vincent smiled and nodded then went back in. He always liked it when the kids called him that, it reminded him of his time at the orphanage that for a time he was the unofficial big brother for all the younger kids there.  
  
Even tough he wasn't related to them by blood, he liked kids and for some reason he could get through to them, and they trusted him. He was also protective of kids too, after his own dark past where no one was there to help him, he made it his mission to help those that couldn't help himself.  
  
He didn't wish for any kid to go through what he had gone through. But he knew there were those that did, it enraged him that stuff like that happened to mutants, and he would make sure that nothing happened to any of them under his protection.  
  
That was the other reason he was here. He wasn't just the 'father' or 'big brother' figure, or because he could take care of kids. Those were valid points but another reason was security.  
  
Vincent was unusual then most mutants, he was more powerful then most, and had more abilities then others and they were all powerful too. With his martial arts training, he was a force to be reckoned with. It was the reason only Liz was the only other mutant in the group.  
  
Because the Underground was aware of his abilities and knew he was more then enough to deal with trouble. And if anyone dared to harm those under his protection they would find out first hand why he was called Mayhem.

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******NEXT UP CHAPTER 2: MEET EVERYONE**  
  
The next one will be more in Jack & Jill's perspective. 


	2. Meet Everyone

Richard-Raven-Croft: Thanks I also hope to read and reviews BlackRose's work too.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Well she would miss them you have to admit that.  
  
fire inu: Gray skin, I said that in the beginning of the first chapter.

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**CHAPTER 2: MEET EVERYONE**  
  
Jack was finishing up making sure all their thing were separated and put neatly away. Jill on the other hand was bouncing on the bed. "This is going to be sooooo great. First we get to live with Vincent and now your getting a holo-watch so you can hide your gray skin." Said his gray haired twin.  
  
"But it's not really him." He said sadly, fingering the medallion under hi shirt.  
  
Jill stopped and looked sadly at her brother. "Yeah...but it's close enough, I mean he seems a lot like the one we knew...and besides would you want to be anywhere else?" She asked him fingering her own medallion. The twin medallions were really two quarters that were remade into their own personal medallions.  
  
They were a gift from the other Vincent and they always wore it. "Still it seems nice here...and there are other kids here so at least we might have some friends." She offered him. He still stood there fingering the metal not saying a word.  
  
There was a knock on the door and Vincent slowly opened it. "You kids ready for lunch?"  
  
Jill immediately jumped off the bed. "You bet the plane food wasn't that great." Jack merely nodded in agreement.  
  
Vince smiled at them. "Well come on, you can meet everyone else here too." He led the way down the stairs and pointed out whose room was whose on the way, they really only paid attention when he told them what room was his, so they would know where to find him.  
  
They entered a nice medium kitchen. It had everything you needed, it wasn't state of the art but everything functioned, especially thanks to Benny. They saw a group of kids and two adults, well young adults anyway.  
  
He introduced a beautiful woman of about twenty-two with shoulder length blond hair as Mary Jones. She was human and had a four-year old girl with purple hair who was already eating. So far she was just called C, but no one knew why and when asked she only said. "Cause that's my name."  
  
Next was a pair of sisters. A twelve year old girl Lisa Saunders. She had near white long and curly blond hair with gray eyes. But they weren't as dark as Jack and Jill's; also she seemed to have a permanent frown and was standing next to her sister, almost protectively.  
  
Her sister Kate, who looked a lot like her, only with her hair short and smiling was about nine. She seemed friendly and actually waved hello to them. Jill waved back and Jack only nodded.  
  
Next was the oldest boy, Rick Beckin. He was fifteen and although he had an X-gene like the other kids, it wasn't active. He also had a mess of brown hair and seemed nice enough.  
  
The other adult had a grin plastered on his face, and seemed like a guy who liked to have fun. He was Benny Parker, he was about twenty and human but Vince told him, that he was the other friend that he had grown up with along with Mary.  
  
Jack and Jill were still weary of other people ever since the day they were taken. They didn't know these people and were a little shy from them, especially the two adults there.  
  
"Well there is one other person we normally have here her name is Liz Cinder." Vince told the two.  
  
"Actually it's Elizabeth, but only call her that if you want to die." Benny joked but the twins got a little rigid at that. Vince gave Benny a look and he have one back of apology.  
  
"Not literally of course." Vincent said to the two of them. They ate their meal which was a lot better then the stuff on the plane ride after they had finished and Mary and C offered to clean up Vince turned to the kids. "So how about I give you all the tour?"  
  
They both nodded and let him lead the way. "First stop the backyard." He led them to a sliding glass door and opened it. They looked at the backyard and were amazed. To the left there was a large green hedge eight feet high. (I actually have that in my own yard) the other two sides had a white fence the same height too.  
  
There was a flat grass area and in one corner there was a small Japanese rock garden. In the center was a stone with a flat top on it that looked like it was cut that way. Near that was a large square of planks of wood that connected to the deck. The deck itself was under a slight overhang and only was about three feet from the house, but it went alone the whole side.  
  
There were also many bushes and flowers along the fence and even what looked like a small fountain in one area. To the kids it looked kind of like something from a story book, well almost.  
  
"What are those for?" Jill asked pointing to the square and rock garden.  
  
"Well that square is where I either do my training outside or teach the others martial arts if they want to." He told them.  
  
Jack looked up at him. "Can...can you teach us too...I don't want to be taken again, and well, I want to be able to fight them off if they come for us again." Vince could hear the pain in his voice and saw his sister look pretty down at the memory. He also noticed them fingering something under their shirts but left it.  
  
"Sure, but I warn you it's not easy." He told them. "That other thing is called a Japanese rock garden. It's used for meditation and I like to sit on that stone there, the flat one." He pointed to it. "Well at least when it's a nice day out like today, I wouldn't go out into the rain or snow for that." He chucked to himself. He noticed that got a smile out of them, even Jack a little.  
  
"Come on I'll show you the other places." He led them to the living room which was spacious and had a couch, and table in front of a TV with a DVD player with a selection of movies. He went a stack on top of a small shelf. "Now remember the movies up here are either PG-13 or over and I don't want to catch either of you two watching them, or your grounded got it?" He said sternly to them, and they could tell he was deadly serious about it.  
  
They both nodded. "Good." He said to them. He led them to a few other places, down stairs bathroom, and a playroom. It had several toys and he told them that if they bring anything out of this they had to put it back when they were done.  
  
He also showed them the basement. They had expected a cold dark area but it looked like the rest of the house. There were a few doors down there, and there was a large old looking TV against one of the walls and another couch next to it. There were also a couple of chairs and a low table. It had a drop ceiling and deep blue carpeting. "Okay that door leads to the heater, water main and other stuff, so don't go in there."  
  
What he omitted was that there was an old freezer where stuff like meat, and ice cream was hidden, and a fridge where the excess of drinks where. It was also where Vince and Mary kept the beer and they really didn't want to kids in that room.  
  
He pointed to one at the far end. "That's a workshop that Benny mainly uses, there are lots of tools and stuff so your not allowed to go in there unless it's with one of the adults."  
  
"Now this." He said with a smile and opened it. 'Is the in-door training area." Inside it was a square room with a blue mat on the floor, and wood paneling walls. "We use this when we can't go outside."  
  
He led them back up. "So that's about it. Why don't you two look around, I got to check on something." Jack and Jill wondered around and found themselves in the playroom. They found C and Kate already in there. C looked up at the two smiling.  
  
"You guys want to play too?" She asked them.  
  
Jill smiled slightly and nodded slightly and joined them. Jack just went off on his own to one end. After a few minutes he found Kate next to him. "How come your by yourself?"  
  
Jack wasn't sure himself, he was just uncomfortable around new people so he just shrugged. Kate just smiled kindly to him. "We don't bite you know, well C might."  
  
"That was just once and you know it!" She yelled over to her.  
  
Kate just giggled at it. "You really should join us, I mean we're all friends here." Jack didn't say much but him and his sister didn't really trust people and it was hard to let go of it.  
  
She took his hand gently and led him to the group. "Come on, we're most likely going to be living together for awhile anyway."  
  
Jack didn't say anything but he didn't resist either. In fact later on he actually talked a little to the other and so was his sister. Vincent looked in on the kids slightly and grinned. He knew that if any of the kids would be able to get through to the twins those two would be able to.  
  
He made his way to the living room where Mary and Lisa were watching TV. "So how are the two new members of our 'family' coming along?" Mary asked over her shoulder.  
  
Vince smiled slightly. "Well I think they're starting to open up a little, not much but it's a start."  
  
Mary smiled at her long time friend. "You'll help them, you always do help others."  
  
"Yeah I know it's a character flaw I'm working on." He joked.  
  
She just smiled knowing full well he didn't mean it. "I'd hit you but I know it wouldn't do anything to you."  
  
Lisa just snorted. "Get a room already." Flicking through the channels.  
  
"Tried that, didn't work out and we're better off as friends." Vince told the young girl. When he finished she was stunned at that revelation. "What? I thought someone told you that?" He said seeing her surprise.  
  
"No they didn't." Then turned to Mary. "How come you never told me you two used to be an item?" Mary was like the big sister Lisa had never had and really looked up to her.  
  
Mary sighed. "That was a long time ago, it's ancient history." Lisa however didn't let it go at that and kept asking for details, which Vince took that as his cue to leave. He did catch the look Mary sent his way and he knew she would get him back for that later on.

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**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 3: NIGHT TERRORS**


	3. Night Terrors

StArRy1233: oh no, I got someone else planned for her. As for the characters you really should read Author's notes since I explained in the first chapter what stories you need to read to completely understand this, and I suggest you do so.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Yes and believe me he'll learn that the hard way.

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**CHAPTER 3: NIGHT TERRORS**  
  
It was one of the same nightmares that had haunted him for his entire life, and would most likely for the rest of his entire life. He was just a child, but indeed of a happy place with a family he was behind a glass cage.  
  
Then there were the 'doctors'. The ones all in white and they were jabbing him with needles and other stuff, and then there were other faces that belonged to the horrible place. Other things too, as where the other children. He had to watch as they suffered and there was nothing he could do, he was too weak and helpless.  
  
He tried to run, tried to fight, but they overpowered him. "You'll never escape us Prodigy Seven." Came a cold and menacing voice. He woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat.  
  
"Oh God I hate those nightmares." Vincent said to himself. He checked the clock and it read past three in the morning. He shuffled his way to the bathroom in his room. All the adults had one, but there were one for the kids to use too.  
  
He flicked on the light. He squinted from the harsh light and made his way to the sink. He drew some water and splashed in on their face. He looked back into the mirror. The normal pleasant face he usually had, was now replaced by one that showed more age then his twenty-two years of life. Especially in his light blue eyes, in them he could see the hardness, the never-ending sadness in them.  
  
He ran a hand throw his closed cut black hair and looked one last time at himself in the mirror. He noticed his pale skin had taken a nice tan of late thanks to all the outdoor training but he couldn't enjoy the though at the moment.  
  
He looked down and realized that he was only wearing his cotton pants. He could see his athletic build and the oriental tattoo over his chest and a scar on his right ribs. He sighed to himself and turned, luckily he couldn't see the many scars on his back reflected in the mirror, especially the large one that went from his right shoulder to the lower left of his back.  
  
He put on a T-Shirt and was wondering what to do. After a nightmare like that it took him some time to get back to sleep. He scratched sub- consciously at the last scar on his arm. He always found it ironic that a man who could take a howitzer to the chest and get back up had so many. But then he got them before his mutation kicked in.  
  
He thought about trying some meditation since it usually calmed him, but didn't feel like he would be able to find his center and would be pointless then. He thought about going to the basement and getting a few beers but he really didn't feel like that either.  
  
Plus if Mary caught him, he was going to live to regret it. So he decided to head for the basement and use the TV down there since it wouldn't wake anyone up. He closed the door silently and used his flight powers to send himself a few inches off the ground. That way he wouldn't risk his footsteps waking anyone else up.  
  
He was just about to go one when he heard two voices cry out. He thought it came from the twin's room and slowly went to the door. He listened closely and heard crying inside. 'Looks like I wasn't the only one to have bad memories creep up on me tonight.' He thought to himself.  
  
He opened the door, and since his eyes had adjusted to the dark once again he could make out two huddled forms on the bed, and he saw then tense up and move away from the door. "It's alright it's just me Vincent." He said silently to them.  
  
He noticed them relax a little and he made his way to the bed. He could see Jack holding his sister. "Bad dream?" Vincent said even though he knew the answer. He had time that day to review their history and it wasn't pleasant.  
  
Jill nodded furiously. Vincent moved himself onto the bed and stroked the girl's head. "It's going to be alright, nothing bad will happen here, I won't let it." He said to her. The girl latched onto his chest and started to cry silently. He noticed Jack was hugging his legs to his chest.  
  
"Did you two have the same dream?" He asked either one of them. Jill answered him.  
  
"Yeah...we sometimes dream (sniff) of the same things, like nightmares." She told him. Vince could see Jack was hurting but wouldn't let himself open up. He moved Jill over to his other side and while he still held on he put an arm around Jack.  
  
He would feel him tense up. "Let it go." He said to the boy and for a moment he thought Jack would shut himself off again, but then he burst into tears and hugged Vince himself. So here he was trying to comfort two twin kids. After his own nightmare he felt he needed something like this too, but he had to be strong for the kids, they were still young and needed it more.  
  
He didn't know how long it took but eventually they cried themselves to sleep in his arms. He was tried himself and he decided to rest a little to make sure the twins were asleep before he moved back on to his own room.  
  
The next thing he knew he was being prodded in his ribs by something. He groaned and tried to move his arms but stopped when he felt a weight on both of them. He opened his eyes to see a very amused look on Mary's face.  
  
"You look so cute right now." She said to him. He didn't understand her meaning and looked to the sides. Each twin had latched onto one of his arms hugging tightly to them. If he wasn't invulnerable he most likely would have had both of them numb by now.  
  
He gently removed his arms and slide out of the bed. He looked to Mary then. "They had a bad dream last night." He explained to her as the quietly left the room.  
  
"So did you." She said to him. He knew better then to know how she knew. After years of growing up she and Benny both knew about his nightmares and what they were and why he had them. "You slept till eight and since you only need six hours of sleep you only do sleep that late either your exhausted or...well you know." She said sadly.  
  
He nodded his head glumly before he decided to lighten the mood. "Well there is _one _other reason." He said slyly.  
  
She blushed a little at that meaning. "Damn you and your photographic memory." She said in mock anger. Even though any romantic relationship was over and done with them, they still like to tease the other a little with things from that time. Now there were more like best friends, or brother and sister, which although was kind of weird saying so after that, but that was how they felt.  
  
Mary, Benny and Vincent loved each other very much, but it was more of a family love. They had been there for each other for years, and they knew they would be there for each other forever.  
  
Vince also notice that Mary's hair was a little more messed up, and she looked slightly tired. "What about you? You look like you didn't sleep well either."  
  
She sighed. "C was lonely and wanted to sleep in my bed, plus she was fidgeting at one point in the night, probably from her own bad dream."  
  
"Seems like everyone had one tonight." Vince said to her slightly down at the news. C had a tendency to seek others out at night when she was scared or something was bothering her. He guessed that she was feeling a little lonely with her 'parents' gone and didn't want to be alone.  
  
She had done it before, sometimes after she had a terrible dream. Usually she went to Mary or Liz. A few times she asked Vince and quite frankly how could you say no to a frightened little girl who you were in charge of protecting and raising?  
  
"So how long before Liz is supposed to be back?" She asked him. AS they finished going down the stairs.  
  
He thought about it. "Tomorrow I think. Did you call her on her cell and gave her an update?"  
  
"Yeah, she was pleased that we were handling things though. She sounded well rested too."  
  
"Guess that means we'll have to make sure the place is spotless for her when she get's back." He said.  
  
Mary gave him a look and he got a confused look on his face. "Vince, when have you ever known that woman to think this house was completely clean?" He had to admit she was right. Liz was a compulsive cleaner and neat freak, as well as a low grade telepath and medic.  
  
"Yeah your right...but I say we give her as little ammunition as possible." He said grinning to her.  
  
She smiled back. "Yeah that would be helpful." They made their way to the kitchen where Ben was starting up breakfast and Rick was already there only slumped in his chair. Rick wasn't a morning person and it was best to leave him alone until he finished his breakfast and was fully awake.  
  
'I can't wait until he's old enough for coffee.' Vince thought. 'Maybe he'd mellow out a little in the morning if he had some.' He thought of acting all cheerful and stuff to him since he hated morning people just as bad as mornings, but it was already a long night, and he didn't feel up to it.  
  
He heard the sound of feet on the stairs and knew the breakfast crowd was coming. 'Well last night may have been hard for mostly everyone, but maybe in light of day thing will be different.' He thought to myself.

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**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 4: WELCOME BACK LIZ**


	4. Welcome back Liz

StArRy1233: oh no, I got someone else planned for her. I'm glad you read BlackRose's works. And for more Vincent I suggest you read Enter Mayhem.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Thanks, I hope you've read BlackRoseApocalypse's work that this fic is based in also. (Trust me it's good stuff)  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Well I hope you like her.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4: WELCOME BACK LIZ**  
  
That night things were better all around for everyone. There no nightmares and everyone had slept peacefully, especially since everyone had helped to make sure the house was clean everywhere for Liz and everyone was tired. Even Vince since he also had to do basic training with the kids.  
  
Well not C since she was too young, but she did like to watch them. Especially the demonstrations with Benny and Mary. Over the years they had taken up his fighting style and were both orange belts and nearing yellow.  
  
Vince however was a black belt in Mototsugu-family clan style of Karate. It was taught to him by his sensei, a kind elderly Japanese man from a long line of samurai. In fact he had even given Vince the clan sword and the clan crest was what he had tattooed onto his chest.  
  
The kids liked to see his movements with the sword and the sai. The Bo staff was also something cool but the kids weren't as interested in it. Rick and Lisa were the top students since they were doing it the longest. And he placed the twins with Kate since they were nearly the same age.  
  
Now it was morning after breakfast and they were all waiting for Liz to get home. Vince had taken some time with the twins to see if they were all right with this. They had a hard time accepting new people, heck they were still trying to accept them, but they had promised him that they would try to give her a chance.  
  
It was three o'clock by Liz's watch. She had felt more relaxed then she had in a long time. That vacation was just what she needed. The cab pulled up to the house and was relieved to see it in the same shape she had left it. She paid the cab and took out her suitcase.  
  
The front door opened and she found Benny there smiling at her. "So how was your time off?"  
  
"Great." She said smiling. "How are things going here? I was told we got two new guests?"  
  
"Yeah well...they're still adjusting." He told her as he took her bag.  
  
She had heard that they had difficulty fitting in somewhere. As she entered the door she soon wasn't able to mover her legs after a small purple blur wrapped around her legs. "You're back!" C squealed happily to her.  
  
"I missed you too C." She said smiling. "C, I really would like to move." C sheepishly let go smiling broadly at her.  
  
The twins were standing behind Vincent watching it all. There stood a woman with Asian features with a long black hair put into a long braid that went down to her lower back. She smiled at them and they both weren't further behind Vincent.  
  
"Hey it's alright you two, she won't hurt you." He said softly to them.  
  
Jill came a little away and smiled and nodded to the woman, Jack hadn't moved one bit. She sighed a little. She knew they wouldn't take to her immediately. Then she looked at Rick and his messy brown hair and then to Benny whose hair was basically the same.  
  
"I still say you're contaminating that boy Benny." She said to him.  
  
"Hey, girls like the whole look." Benny said to her.  
  
"Yeah keep telling yourself that." She said.  
  
"Hey I get more dates then you do." He said back. She wanted to replay to that, but knew he was right. Didn't mean she had to like it. Then she turned to Vincent.  
  
"Are things going well?"  
  
He nodded. "Pretty quiet except for those few days I told you about." She remembered him telling her about their visitors and what they told them. She wasn't sure to believe in most of it, but he said he believed them and he had a good judge of character so she went with him.  
  
"Well that's good." She smiled then started to look around the house. She rang her finger on the surfaces of everything nearby looking for dust. She found none.  
  
"You won't find anything dirty this time." Rick said grinning.  
  
"Well see about that." They soon broke up, the kids going off to play together, except for Rick and Lisa as the oldest they decided to watch a movie that was on. It wasn't until half an hour later that Liz came back to the adults who were sitting around the table in a discussion.  
  
"HA!" She said pointing. "I knew I would find a place you guys neglected."  
  
"_What_? Where?" Mary asked.  
  
"The furnace room." She said plainly. Mary and Vincent looked at Benny since he and Rick were in charge of the basement area.  
  
"That place is always dirty." He said in his defense. "I mean no one really goes in there, unless to fix the fuse box, do the laundry, or something."  
  
"Well it's full of dust and there's still clothes in the washer." Liz said to him. They both turned to Benny again since it was his turn for laundry duty.  
  
"Oops. Okay that I forgot." He said shyly.  
  
After Benny and Vincent were elected to clean and finish the laundry Liz went to the office. The office was really more then a converted closet. There was an electronic lock and keypad you had to use to enter it.  
  
Once in the closed and nearly claustrophobic room which had no windows and only a light on the ceiling was the only light source. She closed the door and sat down at a computer. It wasn't an ordinary one, but one Benny and Vince had worked on with parts that Mary had acquired.  
  
The computer had vast memory and processing power and the room had ventilation for air and to keep the room cool so the computer wouldn't overheat. The computer was a direct connection to the Underground Net. It was so messages could be sent over secure lines without using phones.  
  
There were also a few filing cabinets with other information. The room itself was also rigged. Since no safe house in the Underground had information on all the other operations, if one house fell all the others wouldn't.  
  
But a lot of damage could still be done, which was why the room was rigged. The computer hard drive would whip itself, and the room was also rigged to be set on fire so there would be nothing left for anyone else to use.  
  
She typed in her access code and checked her secure E-Mail for any messages or information the Underground had sent to her while she was gone. There was nothing, which was kind of strange. Normally she would get at least a few updates in the local area, but nothing.  
  
It was strange, so she sent a message to the local area coordinator to see if there was anything wrong. She didn't know how long it would be for a replay but she just hoped it was an oversight.  
  
Later that day Vincent was going to his room. 'Strange...I left the door open.' He thought as he saw the closed door. He shrugged if of as someone must have closed it. He regretted blowing it off as soon as he stepped through. He suddenly found himself being sprayed on both sides by silly string.  
  
As soon as it stopped he was covered head to toe in it. Then he heard the laughing of two females. He grabbed the stuff from his eyes and saw that Mary and Lisa were now in from of him.  
  
"What...was...that for?" He asked the girls.  
  
Mary grinned at him. "That...was for leaving me alone to answer some very personal and embarrassing questions by a twelve year old about my past relationships."  
  
He turned to Lisa who actually had a small grin on her face, which was a rare feet. "That was for leaving me out of the loop."  
  
"Well I'll admit you girls got me good." He said in a calm voice with a smile, which made the girls slightly nervous. "But I have to ask you two something. When thinking of this master plan of yours...did it occur _how_ you would get away from me fast enough to avoid my own retaliation?"  
  
Both girls looked at each other. They hadn't thought of that. "Sorry Mary, but survival of the fittest." With the she pushed Mary right into Vincent and as he grabbed her Lisa ran out the door.  
  
"You little traitor!" She yelled at the girl as Vince hoisted her over his shoulder. "Vince...what are you up too?" He didn't answer he just went into the bathroom across the hall. "_VINCE_?"  
  
With her on his shoulders he started the run the water in the tub. "Oh no you are not!" She yelled out trying to break out of his hold, but since he could bench press a dump truck it was pointless.  
  
"You know, your right." He said and she was relived. "It needs bubbles." And poured in bubble bath they used sometimes for the kids. She continued to protest and struggle until he literally dropped her in. She sat there wet and covered in bubbles and glaring daggers at his smug expression.  
  
"What the Hell is going on up here?" Liz said walking into the bathroom. She stopped and took a look at the two so called 'adults' of the house and sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. 'I should have taken a longer trip.' She thought.  
  
They were about to explain she held up her hand to stop them. "You know what? I don't want to know, just...clean up after all of this. And Mary, don't forget to wash behind your ears."  
  
"Ha, ha." Mary said sarcastically. After they had either clean off or dried off, Vince went off in search of the other offender and Mary headed downstairs. On her way she passed Benny.  
  
"Splish, splash, I was taking a bath all on a-OW!" He had stopped singing after Mary had punched him in the arm. Now he was rubbing the place and moving away from her glare. "Sorry, couldn't help myself." He admitted still grinning. By now the entire house knew what had happen and he had to admit, it was pretty funny.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 5: MEET SHADOW**


	5. Meet Shadow

BlackRoseApocalyps: Yeah, but he'll only show up about halfway through, so she won't wish that until the next chapter. And of course I like your work, I don't have people on my favorites list for nothing.

* * *

**CHAPTER 5: MEET SHADOW**  
  
It had been a quiet couple of days in the house. Vincent had finally gotten Jack and Jill to open up more to the others. They had even shown him the medallions they wore. He was surprised to see two identical metallic disks with Japanese words of Strength and Courage written on them.  
  
They told him they were from the other him. He found it strange thinking on it. He was actually saddened that he never got to meet him. It was strange when he thought about it, two nearly identical people who have totally different lives.  
  
From what he read in science books and all the sci-fi he'd seen and read he knew that there were infinite number of realities with many versions of him. He would have loved to compare notes, to see what had caused them to have two different lives. Him with the X-Men, and himself right here.  
  
'Did I just refer to myself in the fourth person?' Vincent thought. 'I'm really starting to hate other realities.' But he still thought about it, especially all the other types of lives he could have led. But a lot of those thoughts were dark and he didn't want to think about it anymore.  
  
After he was taken at the age of three, then with all the experiments and the 'training', then escaping and living on the streets for a year before finding the orphanage. Well there were many things that might have happened in those years he didn't want to think that actually happened to him in another reality.  
  
It was too depressing.  
  
He 'woke up' from a short meditation exercise he walked out of his room and down the stairs. He saw Liz doing some of the education teaching. She was teaching some math skills. Since some of the kids either weren't comfortable in schools, or hard to hide, they had to home school the children.  
  
He didn't mind though, he actually liked teaching, whether it was martial arts or something else. In fact tomorrow he was scheduled to teach some history and spelling. But today he had the 'day off' as it were.  
  
But since he had no social life it was mainly boring. These kids and the other adults were basically his whole life, and he wasn't complaining. He liked his life so far he adored the kids. Never having a family he felt this was the closest thing he had ever had, or might ever have with his life.  
  
He found Mary and Benny in the kitchen talking over some coffee. "So Vince what's up for ya today?" Mary asked him. He just shrugged. "Oh come on you have to come out with us tonight. There's a new club and we're going to check it out."  
  
"Yeah, and maybe you'll find a nice girl and get some, I mean when's the last time you got laid." Benny said. Vince gave him an annoyed look and Mary smacked him upside the head.  
  
Vince thought about his personal life, or lack there of. Him and Mary were an item once in their teens but that had changed. They were both happy back as best friends. After her however it was just a string of bad dates, and one-night things. Mainly he had to break it off with a woman when after he strategically asked about their views on mutants.  
  
When they gave the kind of answer that he hated to hear he broke up with them the next day and cut them out of his life. He couldn't be with someone who was against mutants. And he had to admit it had been a while since he left the house, let alone on a date.  
  
"Come on man, you need to unwind at least." Benny said to him.  
  
Vincent sighed. He could use a break from everything and go have some fun with his best friends again like the old days. "Sure what's the worst that could happen?" He said to them. Both of them smiled at his reaction.  
  
**LATER....**  
  
After about nine o'clock the three made their way to this new club. They used the van since the only other mode of transport was a bike Vince had in the garage. They made their way across the town to near the city limits.  
  
As they got out they saw the building in near the edge of the town. There weren't many placed around which was most likely a good thing since they could hear the music from outside.  
  
"Well let go already." Benny said racing to the building. Vince and Mary took their time going in. It was a nice place, it had a large dance floor, lasers going off around the place, a stage, but it only had a DJ on it playing Techno music. There was a bar at one end.  
  
"Do you see Benny?" She asked him over the music. Vince looked around and shook his head. "Great. Let's split up, you know how he can get into trouble." Vince nodded not wanting to yell over the music and they moved off.  
  
After a while the trio were enjoying their time. Mary was getting a drink when she bumped into someone. "Oops sorry about that."  
  
"Hey if it gets me to meet a gorgeous woman like yourself, there's nothing to be sorry for." Said the stranger. He was tall, dark hair man with a cocky grin plastered on his face. She wasn't sure if he was just over confident, arrogant, a jackass or all of them.  
  
"If that's the best pick-up line you got then you're out of luck buddy." She said to him, but he only smiled more.  
  
"That's nowhere near my best babe." He said to her.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Look guy, first don't call me babe unless you want to swallow all your teeth. Secondly you really need to improve on your game if you want to ever get a date."  
  
He was about to respond when they heard a commotion to their left. "I say you're a mutant!" Came the voice of a drunken man. Him and his buddies were picking on a woman with green hair.  
  
"I'm telling you it's just dye." She pleaded with them.  
  
"That's just a cover!" One of them said.  
  
"I wonder it the carpets match the drapes then." One of them said leering at her. She moved away from that one. She was terrified what these men were going to do.  
  
The stranger then turn to Mary. "Excuse me I have to take care of this." He walked over to the lead man and with no talking or anything he casually kicked him in the nuts. The man went down to his knees. "That's no way to talk to a lady pal, why don't we all step outside and talk about this in a manner of extreme violence and pain?" He said grinning.  
  
The others after picking up their friend were all too happy to oblige. Mary didn't like the odds and went to get Vince and Benny.  
  
The stranger only known as Shadow to the world was looking forward to this. He had taken some personal time off and had decided to take a trip. He first started out in upper New York and on a whim decided to go into Canada. He had been feeling a little energetic and if he wasn't going to get anywhere with the blond then kicking the crap out of some mutant haters was fine with him.  
  
Little did they know that he was a mutant himself, and he was looking forward to their expression in their faces too. He waited for them to start up. They encircled him and a few started to attack first.  
  
Those he took down with a few kicks and punches. They were a little too drunk to really put up a fight. After about minute of having a little fun they apparently had had enough. Some of them went for whatever they could get their hands on as a weapon.  
  
One of them came at him with a tire iron, so Shadow decided to use his powers. He could create shadows and make them solid, so he created a shadow shield on his arm to block the attack. With his other arm he made a fighting stick and took the knee out of the man.  
  
He was about to turn it up a notch when he suddenly got a blinding amount of pain in his head. He fell to the ground his vision swimming and a major pain in his head. While he was so focused he hadn't noticed that one of them had picked up a rock and had nailed him on the head.  
  
He knew he was a sitting duck if he didn't et up but didn't seem to be able to move properly. He managed to roll himself onto his back and looked up at one of the men with a bat. 'Oh crap...this isn't going to be pretty.' He thought.  
  
The next thing he knew someone had tackled the man and he heard the sounds of fighting. He was still wasn't too lucid, and he couldn't tell what exactly was happening. After a little while the sounds of fighting ended.  
  
The man known only as Shadow to the world looked up. His head hurt and his vision was blurred. He did notice that all of the guys he had been fighting were either gone or laying around on the ground.  
  
Then he noticed someone was standing over him. He looked up and the face he saw was one he wished he would never see again. "Oh no...not you again." He said before falling into unconsciousness.  
  
Mary looked to Vincent. "How does everyone know about you?"  
  
He just gave an innocent look and shrugged. "How should I know? I've kept a low profile all my life, Hell the town doesn't even know I am a mutant or with the Underground, since they think we run an half-way house."  
  
"Well anyway we better get him back to see Liz, I don't like that cut on his head." Mary said looking at the wound.  
  
"Why do I suddenly got this feeling of impending doom?" Vince muttered to himself.

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 6: GETTING TO KNOW SHADOW**


	6. Getting to know Shadow

BlackRoseApocalyps: Oh yeah it is, and believe me when he hears about how he knows about it, it should be interesting to see.

* * *

**CHAPTER 6: GETTING TO KNOW SHADOW**  
  
Shadow groaned as he held his head. He had a major headache and his skull felt like someone had tap-danced on his head, with cleats. He looked around and he seemed to be in a basement room on a couch.  
  
He felt something on his skull it felt like a bandage. He also saw his coat on a chair nearby. The last thing he remembered was the fight, then some punk got a lucky shot in then, it got a little hazy.  
  
Then he remembered that face and he dismissed it as a dream. There was no way his luck was THAT bad. He heard a door open and then the blond from last night came walking down the stairs. 'Maybe I got some good luck after all.' He thought to himself as she walked towards him.  
  
"So your up, that's good at least." She said. She walked over to him and checked his wound. "Looks like it's not infected good thing Liz was back, she does good work."  
  
"So what's your name anyway, since I have you to thank for this a presume." Shadow said flashing his grin at her.  
  
"My name's Mary and you are?"  
  
"Just call me Shadow." He said simply.  
  
"I take it you call yourself because of those shadow things you made." She said redressing his wound.  
  
"Uh...you saw that?" He asked slightly nervous.  
  
"Don't worry we're Underground." Mary said to him. "So you don't have to worry about being a mutant, in fact we got two who are in charge of this place. Liz the one who patched you up and Vincent who was with me and Benny at that club."  
  
Shadow jerked at the familiar name. "So you do know him." She said to him seeing his reaction.  
  
"Oh no...I can't be him." Shadow muttered to himself.  
  
"Well this should be interesting to hear." Vincent said coming down the stairs. "Since I don't ever remember meeting you and I got a photographic memory." Shadow looked at him and was confused. The one he knew was still a teenager, and he was in his early twenties at least. Then it hit him. This was his reality's version of him.  
  
"Ah crap, there is one of you in this world." He said seeing him.  
  
Vince blinked a few times then threw his hands up into the air. "Has everyone on this planet met that guy but me?" He said exasperated. "First Marianne and Michael and now him."  
  
"Wait those two were here?" Shadow asked.  
  
"I think this is going to take a little while." Mary said. All three talked and compared notes. After about an hour of talking and questions, certain ones that Shadow avoided like how exactly he knew the other Vincent. He did ask what had happened to his bike, and Vince told him after searching for some ID, which he didn't seem to have, he found his keys and after a few tries took it back with them  
  
He had it in the garage next to his own, and Shadow was relieved at that. He had that bike for years and he didn't want to lose it.  
  
"Well...this has been informative to say the least." Vincent said running a hand through his hair after their discussion.  
  
"No matter how much I hear about another version of you, it's still weird." Mary said shaking her head. "I kind of wished I met him too, it would have been interesting, plus I would have loved to see how me and Benny were in like in his world too."  
  
Shadow tried to get up but suddenly got dizzy and fell back onto the couch. "Easy there big guy." Mary said going over to him. "You got brained good on that head of yours."  
  
Shadow couldn't help but smile. "Well if it gets you as my nurse I'm all for it."  
  
Vince gaze the man a glare and Mary stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Please, like lines like that would work on me." There was a loud thump from upstairs. Mary and Vincent sighed. "Guess we should see what happened." She said.  
  
Vince turned to Shadow not really sure if he even liked the guy yet. "Well there's a TV down here, the remote is by the couch. Liz will be down later on to check on you."  
  
"Thanks man, and I guess I own you one for the save back there." Shadow had to admit. He hated the fact he owed this guy one. First an alternate and younger version of him kicks his ass, now the one in this world save his ass. 'The universe hates me.' He concluded to himself.  
  
Vince smirked. "Not a problem, even if it was stupid to take on all those guys, but it was a good thing to save that girl too." With that he left him alone in the basement. Shadow shrugged and turned on the TV.  
  
"I wonder what channels they get up here?" He said to himself reaching to the remote and started to flick through the channels.  
  
A few hours past and Liz came down and changed his dressing, after spending fifteen minutes she figured it was fourteen minutes too much with that man. After a while Shadow got bored of just sitting on his butt all day watching TV and decided to see the rest of the house for himself, since he had no idea how long he would be staying.  
  
He carefully rose up off the couch and made his why up the stairs. He was a little dizzy but staying in that basement was driving him nuts. When he finally made it up to the main floor he looked around.  
  
It looked normal enough and he also noticed the sun was down. "Hi." He jumped at the sudden sound a looked to see a little purple haired girl. "I'm C, who are you?"  
  
Shadow thought about the name it seemed familiar. "I'm Shadow, wait a minute didn't Marianne take care of you at one point?"  
  
C brighten up. "You knew mommy?" She asked happily.  
  
"C what are you doing? You should be getting ready for bed." Mary said coming towards them. C pouted but a stern look from Mary and the girl marked off to her room. Then Mary turned to face Shadow and walked up to him.  
  
"And are you nuts?" She said poking him in the chest. "You should stay off your feet."  
  
Shadow couldn't help but smile. She was a strong and independent woman, kind of like someone else he knew, only that she was a lot more of a looker. Okay he admitted to himself this Mary girl was beautiful.  
  
He moved closer to her and grinned. "Are you going to tuck me in if I do?"  
  
She smiled back, moved right up to him and then kneed him in the crotch. He went down to his knees in pain. "First off I was trained to fight and I do it well so you should know if you don't get back down there, injuries or no injuries I'll kick your ass back down there, and I can do it too."  
  
"Alright, alright I'll go." He said through gritted teeth. 'Well maybe not exactly like the other girl I know then.' He thought as he crawled back to the door. Going down the stairs was much easier then going up and he was actually glad to get on the couch.  
  
'Okay so let's review. Ass kicked by a teenager from another reality, ass saved by the same person of this world, and just got my ass kicked by his friend...yeah someone definitely hates me.'  
  
He tried to get to sleep but couldn't, he was too restless not to mention thirsty. 'I wonder if there's anything to drink down here?' He wondered. He would go upstairs but didn't want to run into Mary again, or worse Vince. One butt kicking was enough thank you very much.  
  
He checked out the other rooms and found a fridge in one room. He went over to it and found it stocked with a few cases of soda and the rest was beer. Canadian brand too. He had been in Canada long enough to know all the hype about the beer to be true.  
  
"Well a few couldn't hurt." He said grabbing a few beers to start himself off. "Hope they don't mind, but it's not like I'm on medication or anything." He said to himself closing the fridge door with his foot while his arms were full of beer bottles.  
  
He went back to the couch and decided if he could see if there was a late movie on or something.

* * *

**OUTSIDE**  
  
A black van rolled on by across the street. Two men in plain clothing looked at the house. "So did they say which one they wanted?" The driver asked.  
  
The other one shook his head. "They haven't decided yet, but we're just to watch and make sure no one warns them and they bolt before the operation goes into effect."  
  
"Shouldn't be long now anyway, but what about the mutants?" The driver asked.  
  
The other one took his eyes off the house. "Well the girl should be no problem but the guy could prove to be trouble."  
  
"That and there's that new guy they picked up, the surveillance team said he had powers."  
  
"Guess the higher ups will have to do a little digging on that one."  
  
"So I guess that will push back the time for the operation back a little then." The driver said. "We should get going anyway, we don't want to tip them off."  
  
The van started up and slowly made their way off into the night, before anyone noticed it.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 7: SHADOW & MARY**


	7. Shadow and Mary

BlackRoseApocalyps: Thanks for the tip, I'll do that in this chapter right now.

* * *

**CHAPTER 7: SHADOW & MARY**  
  
The next day Vincent went to the phone. He waited to make sure it wasn't too early, he had to make sure of any time difference at all but after nine he needed to know if Shadow was all right, so he would get to the source.  
  
Luckily they had left their number in case of emergency and also so little C could keep in touch with them also. He dialed in the number and waited. "Yeah who is this?" Came a female voice.  
  
"I'm looking for Marianne or Michael. Tell them it's Vincent and-"  
  
"No way! So there is a version of you in this world." Came the voice.  
  
Vince pinched the bridge of his nose. This was getting old real fast. "So I've been told...many times." He groaned.  
  
"Well I'm Sarah by the way, I'll just get them." He stood there waiting for a few minutes and was wondering what was going on when a familiar voice came on the line.  
  
"Vince is anything wrong? How are C and the others?" Marianne said.  
  
Vince smiled at her attitude. She really did fit the 'mom' label she had. They're all fine don't worry. It's just that there's this guy here called Shadow and I was-"  
  
But he was cut off yet again. "Tall guy, dark hair, kind of annoying?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah that's him." He said.  
  
"My condolences." He said to him over the line he would have laughed but she sounded too serious. They talked a bit after that, nothing mainly just catching up on what was going on and when he saw C walk down stairs he gave her a chance to talk to her 'mother'.  
  
He stayed and watched since the phone was on the wall and she was too short to hang up, plus the last time she used it she had forgotten to hang up, for over an hour before someone noticed the tone and hanged it up.  
  
Meanwhile downstairs Mary had gone to see if Shadow was feeling up to some breakfast and found him in a chair sleeping with several empty beer bottles around him. He shook her head at the sight. She walked up to him and kicked him hard in the shin.  
  
"YEOW!" He screamed and clutched his shin. He looked at a Mary then. "WHAT?"  
  
"First off you left a mess, secondly you should know better to leave beer around with kids in this house and thirdly you seemed to have drank the last of Vince's favorite brand." She told him.  
  
Shadow froze at that last part. "You're kidding." He said flatly, and then saw the look on her face. "Aw crap."  
  
She couldn't help but smile. "Well we better clean this up, then you can get some breakfast." Together they put away all the empties and Shadow found he could actually stand without getting dizzy.  
  
They went upstairs where everyone else was already finishing eating. Vince looked at Shadow. "Well I called our mutual friends and she vouched for you, well she said you were an irritating jerk but you were a good guy besides that."  
  
Shadow snorted. "That sounds like Marianne alright."  
  
"You know I wonder if we should take C with us to their wedding?" Mary asked Vincent.  
  
"Wait what wedding?" Shadow asked looking at the two of them with concern.  
  
"Did you know?" Vince asked him. "Michael and Marianne are engaged."  
  
He just stood there quiet for a moment then it was like something had bust. "WHAT? THOSE TWO ARE, AND THEY DIDN'T TELL ME? I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE'S GOING TO SETTLE FOR THAT GUY!"  
  
"Shadow calm down." Liz said sternly as the children sat wide-eyed. He took a breath and sat down, muttering to himself about how Marianne deserves better then him.  
  
"What you got a thing for her or something?" Benny asked eventually.  
  
Shadow glared at the young man. "No I don't have a 'thing' for her, I think of her like she's my little sister for crying out loud!" He said to him and just went to eating in silence. He was pretty much pissed off for the entire day after that, and was in a dark mood too.  
  
Shadow had to stay for observation for at least a few days Liz had told them just in case. She didn't like it but as the medical expert of the group she couldn't in good conscious let him go off until she was sure there were no after effects.  
  
So Shadow had to stay, he tried to help out around the place. Lisa didn't seem to mind him at all for some reason but the twins kept their distance from him. He also didn't give up his pursuit of Mary, who even though the only thing she returned was either a slightly slap or glare was actually enjoying all the attention.  
  
On the third day she was going down the stairs with some boxes. They were clearing out some old stuff out of the attic since they used that for storage, which wasn't much room since the attic was pretty small.  
  
She was going down the stairs when she tripped and started to fall. Then she suddenly found that she had stopped. She felt herself in a pair of strong arms and for a moment thought it was Vincent. She brushed her hair from her eyes and found it was Shadow.  
  
"You alright?" He said in good humor, but she could see the actually concern in his eyes. Which she had to admit were very nice looking. She shook the thought from her mind.  
  
"Yeah, th-thanks." She said blushing a little. He nodded and helped her with the boxes. They dropped them off and they found it was about lunch time so they went for a break at small restaurant since they were hungry and wanted to get something to eat, instead of driving all the way back to the house.  
  
They ordered some food and at first there was an awkward silence. "So...how did a nice girl like you get mixed up in the Underground?" Shadow asked trying to start up conversation.  
  
She told him about her life at the orphanage and where she met Vince and Benny, about Father Michaels and her life. She told him how when Vince told them he was a mutant and his past. She told him how they were approached by the Underground and how they had been working with them for a few years.  
  
She finished about half-way through their lunch. "So now that you know what about you?"  
  
Shadow told her not as much. He didn't like to go into his past, but he told her the basics. He lived on the streets going from place to place never really fitting in. How he met Marianne and then joined up with the X- Men but left after her apparent 'death'.  
  
"I know she doesn't think much of me, and that she thinks I'm an idiot...well...maybe I am a little. But when I thought she was dead I was devastated. I only joined the X-Men to look out after her. But she doesn't need me anymore, she needs Michael now."  
  
"Is that way you were so pissed?" Mary asked him. "That you felt like you were being replaced?"  
  
"I am replaced." Shadow said glumly. "But she's a grown woman now, she's strong and independent and well...and if you tell anyone this especially her I'll hunt you down...I'm proud of her."  
  
Mary couldn't help but smile at his discomfort in admitting that. "You know...your actually a sweet guy under all that."  
  
"Hey I do have a reputation to keep!" He said to her offended. "It's just a moment of weakness anyway."  
  
"You know. I wonder what else there is to you?" She said grinning.  
  
He just sat there smugly. "Yeah well, I got lots of secrets babe, and I don't give them out to just anybody."  
  
They made their way back to the house. Mary was laughing at something Shadow had seen once while at the mansion, mainly about Kurt, Bobby and a prank on Scott. Vincent noticed them coming in both laughing and seeming to enjoy their time together.  
  
He wasn't going to tell Mary that she shouldn't get to close to him cause he didn't like him much. The last time he did that...well...he didn't like to think about that it was extremely unpleasant. But he didn't like it one bit, even if she was a grown woman and could see who she wanted...but _Shadow_ of all people? Why?  
  
Mary and Shadow over the next few days were actually getting quite close. For some reason all his constant trying for her to agree to go out with him had finally worked. She mainly agreed because she found him fun, even if he was a little reckless and thoughtless. But she had to admit he did try and do the right thing.  
  
Mary was finishing up her hair and make-up in her room. Lisa was there on her bed watching her and grinning. "So what are you two going to do tonight." She asked.  
  
"We're just going to a movie and then a late dinner, nothing special." She replied.  
  
"He's cute are you two going to be a real couple?" She asked the older woman.  
  
She turned around and gave the young girl a stern look. "First off this might just be a one time thing, I mean the guy does have his issues, regardless if he's cute or not."  
  
"Well he does drive Vince kind of nuts, and that's fun to watch." Lisa said to her, remembering how he found all of his favorite beer gone, or when he made a mess of the garage, ripped his favorite shirt while 'borrowing' it.  
  
"Alright take off you." She said to the girl. The date was actually kind of normal. They took Shadow's bike and she had to hang onto him while he rode. She figured this was the reason he insisted on it. The movie was nice and dinner was delicious. They actually found they had a few things in common and had talked a lot during their time.  
  
She had to admit it. He was fun, cute and well he was interesting to say the least. She was actually starting to like this guy. Sure he had his ruff spots, but she was actually learning to like some of them.  
  
When they got home she turned to him. "I had a nice time, it's been awhile since I actually got out and had some fun like tonight."  
  
"So...do I get a goodnight kiss?" Shadow said moving in closely.  
  
"Well...you did behave yourself." She said and kissed him on the mouth. It felt surprisingly good and when she thought of pulling away he wrapped his arms around her bringing her closer and deepening the kiss. She couldn't refuse, it was just too good.  
  
"Awwww." Said several voices. The two of them suddenly broke off and found Lisa, Kate and Jill by the stairs watching them.  
  
"Alright you three off to bed!" She scolded them and the three girls giggled and ran off to their rooms.  
  
"Well that broke the moment." Shadow said to himself disappointed. "So...can we do this again sometime?" He asked her.  
  
She was going to say no, but after that kiss...well that had changed her mind. "Sure." She said and went off to her room. When she got there she placed a hand to her lips. "Wow, that was really good." She said blushing at the memory.

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**NEXT UP CHAPTER 7: TAKEN**


	8. Taken

BlackRoseApocalyps: Glad you like the chapter I wasn't sure if I did the character credit enough. PS. For some reason chapter 2 of Shattered Resistance isn't showing up.

* * *

**  
CHAPTER 8:TAKEN**  
  
A few more days and passed and by now everyone was used to their new 'guest' as it were and everyone was interesting in seeing how Mary and Shadow were going to work out.  
  
Benny actually had a bet going with Liz. Vincent, well he didn't object but he didn't like her choice. Maybe he was just a little overprotective but she was one of his oldest and closest friends and he wanted her to get the best, but he also wanted her to be happy so he didn't interfere.  
  
It was currently in the middle of the night. Shadow wasn't sleeping on the couch this night, he was in a bed, Mary's to be exact. He was surprised when after their latest date they stopped outside her door and she led him in.  
  
Now Mary was curled up next to him. Then her weight shifted and she turned over and sat up keeping the sheet to her chest. "Are you going to leave now?" She asked quietly.  
  
Shadow wasn't sure what she was talking about. "Why would I leave?"  
  
"We all know the only reason your still here is because you wanted me, now that you got me..." She trailed off.  
  
Shadow stood up and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm not leaving. Just because of this I'll just pick up and leave. I want to stay with you. Look I've been all over the States and this country you know why?"  
  
She shook her head. "Because I've been searching for a place to fit in, a place to call home. When I'm with you I feel like every time I've come home, you fill a void in me that I've been searching to fill." He said softly to her. "I find that I actually don't want to leave, and that's a first for me."  
  
She turned to face him in the night, the room only lighted by the night sky. "Your not just saying that are you? I mean if I found out that's just one of your lines or something so help me I'll hunt you down and skin you alive."  
  
He smiled at her attitude. "Oh I know you will, and that's why I'm only saying the truth." She smiled to herself and kissed him.  
  
She pulled away slightly. "You better be Daniel." She said to him.  
  
He whined at the use of his real name. "Why on Earth I told you my name was Daniel Witter I'll never know. I never even told Marianne my real name, I don't think I've told anyone that."  
  
"Don't worry I'll just use it between us." She assured him.  
  
The next morning Vincent was up and about as usual, he was just walking in the hall on the way downstairs when he saw Mary's door open. He thought it was a little strange since she usually doesn't get up early in the morning.  
  
He saw her step out in a bathrobe. "Hey Mary why are you up so early?"  
  
She literally jumped at his voice and turned to face him. "N-nothing! I mean nothing, my showing is...broken so I want to use the public one we got before the kids get to it."  
  
Vince nodded and made a note to tell Benny about the shower, he was about to leave when a sight he wished he never had seen appeared. Shadow with wet hair and pulling on a shirt went up to Mary and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for letting me use your shower." Then he noticed Vince and the look he had on his face. "Uh " Mary said. He didn't need to be told twice and took off. Vince blinked a few times then went after the man. Benny and Liz heard the commotion and came to check it out.  
  
"What's going on?" Liz asked wiping the sleep from her eyes. Then she saw Mary in her bathrobe and Vincent chasing Shadow down the stairs. "Please tell me you didn't." She moaned. Mary just blushed. "Aw damn it."  
  
Mary looked at her like she was crazy. "You owe me thirty bucks Liz." Benny said grinning.  
  
Mary's jaw dropped. "You two bet if Shadow and me would spend the night together?" She said shocked.  
  
"More like when the if, but yeah." Benny said. "Hey don't look at me like that you know we all need social lives and this is our way of compensating."  
  
LATER  
  
A few hours had passed and by sheer luck Shadow had avoided Vincent's wrath. He sat down at the kitchen table taking a breather. "We need to talk." Came a cold voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.  
  
He slowly turned and saw Vincent there behind him with a stern expression on his face. He looked for a quick exit. "Don't even think about it." Vince warned him. With a sigh he let the man lead him into the basement, all the while he was wishing he wasn't being led down there so Vince could hide his body.  
  
When they got down there and they were alone Vince let out a very long breath. "Look I know Mary is an adult and she can make her own choices. But if you ever hurt her I will make you wish for death, got it?"  
  
Shadow nodded. "You bet I don't want to hurt her either."  
  
Vince took a close look at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes. "Good. Make sure of that." He threatened and left Shadow alone.  
  
"Great, now I got to worry about him now." He sighed. "But she is worth it."  
  
Benny was looking through the fridge noticing they were running low on food. "Guess I better get some shopping done." He muttered to himself. He saw Rick pass the door and went to catch up to him. "Hey Rick I could use and extra pair of hands."  
  
"For what?" Asked the teenager.  
  
"I need to go to the corner store and Liz just took the van and I don't know when she'll be back so we got to walk it."  
  
"Are we going to the one a few blocks down?" Rick asked.  
  
"That's the one, we only need a few things and I'm not walking all the way to the other one." Benny told him.  
  
Rick shrugged. "Sure why not."  
  
As they left the house they didn't notice a certain black van down the street behind them. "Is that the one they wanted?" The driver said to his partner.  
  
His partner had a pair of binoculars. "Yeah that's him. We won't get a better shot at this let's get him." The van moved out and up to the two unsuspecting people. As the van just passed them it jumped the curve and went right in front of them. The driver and the passenger got out and Benny got a bad feeling about all of this.  
  
"Hey what's your problem?" Rick yelled at them. One of them pulled a dart gun and fired it at Rick. A dark hit him dead in the chest and he fell to the ground after a second. One of them went to pick him up but Benny went to stop them.  
  
The other one pulled out and collapsible baton. The man with expert skill hit Benny in the joint of one of his arms and he yelled out as he felt his arm dislocate at the joint. The grabbed his arm out of instinct and then felt another blow behind one of his knees and he suddenly found himself on his back.  
  
The wind knocked out of his lungs. He turned to see the two men put Rick in the back at the van. "I hope those science geeks are paying good money for this specimen."  
  
Benny watched them helplessly leave with Rick. After he groaned he managed to pick himself up. Cradling his arm he limped back to the house. 'I got to tell the others.' He thought.  
  
He opened to front door and nearly fell down onto the floor. Kate saw him and rushed over. "Benny what happened?" She asked slightly panicking from seeing him so hurt.  
  
"Get the others." He groaned out.  
  
"Help! Vince! Mary! Somebody!" Kate started to yell at the top of her voice. Soon the entire house was on the scene. They moved him to the couch and Lisa went to get the first aid kit and Kate went to get the iced gel packs.  
  
Benny looked at Vince and Mary. "I'm so, sorry I tried but I couldn't stop them."  
  
"Stop who Benny? Where's Rick?" Mary asked him.  
  
"They took him, I don't know where. All I hear was something about science geeks and specimen." She weakly told them and the pain he was feeling was making it hard to think.  
  
"Mary look after him I'm going to get his location." Vince said and went into the back of the house. Shadow gave him a strange look.  
  
"Get his location? How?" He asked following him.  
  
"We planned for something like this and had the Underground make something special for us. All the kids wear special watches that got tracking devices in them, even Jack's holo watch has one in it." He stopped outside the computer room and punched in the door code and then walked in.  
  
He sat down and powered up the computer and began to run a special program he made. Shadow watch trying to follow what he was doing but gave up. "What is all of this?"  
  
"I'm hacking my way into certain satellites the kind that no one is supposed to know about." He told him without taking his eyes off the screen.  
  
"Then how do you know about them?" Shadow asked.  
  
"Luck. I found a few things by accident." On the screen a map showed up and a moving red dot. "There he is. He'll have to wait until he stops to get him." He said darkly. Shadow didn't say anything and they waited. Eventually they stopped outside the city.  
  
Vince looked up the area and didn't like what he found. "It's supposed to be a decommissioned military base." He told Shadow.  
  
"Guess it's not so abandoned after all." Shadow commented. "So now what?"  
  
Vince got up without a word and left him there. He went up to his room and closed the door behind him. He went to a rank and pulled down a sword he had kept for years. It was a Japanese Katana, the one given to him from his sensei.  
  
He held it in his hands. He thought about what Benny told him about science geeks, most likely scientists. And when he said subject Vince had gone cold inside. He knew full well that they had grabbed Rick for experimentation. He may have an X-gene but it wasn't active.  
  
Unless that's what he wanted. Now Vince knew from personal history what it was like being experimented on, he still had nightmares from it all. Now one of his kids, the kids that he was responsible for was taken to only the kind of Hell he and others like him knew about.  
  
But this couldn't be a simple operation. Using an army base even an old one took a lot of power and these people must have had some serious backing. He sat down on his bed. He knew that there was no way to just go into a military base filled with who knows what and get Rick out without killing anybody.  
  
It just wasn't possible. He put the sword down on the bed next to him and held his head in his hands. He didn't want to kill again. He already had seven lives on his hands, yes it was in self-defense but that didn't mean he liked it.  
  
Now Rick was most likely being examined right now. All the memories came flooding back to him. All the pain, the suffering, everything. He didn't want Rick to suffer through any of that.  
  
Tears weld up in his eyes. But how could he get him out. He had no help and there was no way he could do it alone, they might kill Rick. He and read the reports of teams going into labs and what they found. The fact that Rick was most likely in one was horrifying.  
  
He was brought up by a priest, and was told all life was precious. But he was also brought up in the way of the warrior. The voices of both his mentors rang through his head.  
  
_"All life is sacred."  
  
"To protect others is a noble way of life."  
  
"Killing is never right, even if the cause if just and God can forgive."  
  
"One must do what is necessary to protect those we care for."_  
  
'What do I do?' Vincent thought to himself. 'How can I do what is necessary to save Rick, but if I do I'll most likely take a life in the process. But how can I just leave him there to suffer and die?'  
  
_"We all must make hard choices in life Vincent, we just have to do the best that we can, and hope we can life with them."  
  
"You must ask yourself. What would you do to protect others you care about? What are you prepared to do?"_  
  
Vince looked at the sword next to him. He thought of what Rick was going to go through and not to mention who knows how many others. He couldn't leave him to that fate, he couldn't live with himself if he did. He gave an oath to protect him and the kids and he would do anything to protect them.  
  
_"What are you prepared to do?"_  
  
"Anything I have to." He said coldly and picked up the weapon. He was no longer Vincent Freeman, the kind big brother that the kids looked up to. No he was bringing out a darker part of his nature a part of him he hated to use and for others to see.  
  
Those that took Rick weren't going to go up against Vincent Freeman, they were going to have to face Mayhem now. And he would get Rick back by any means necessary.

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**NEXT UP CHAPTER 9: THE RESCUE**


	9. The Rescue

BlackRoseApocalyps: Now that you mention it, it is kind of poetic justice isn't it? Yes Shadow will join up, but Mayhem will unleash a major butt kicking in this chapter.

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**CHAPTER 9: THE RESCUE**  
  
Vince went to his closest and pulled out the clothing he would need. He wore a black T-Shirt with dark jeans. There was also a long black leather coat he put on and a special attachment to his belt to attach the sword to.  
  
The coat would help hide the sword since the police would get suspicious of a guy who had a sword strapped to his waist. He put on some biker gloves and took one last item out. It was a piece of black cloth with his clan symbol on the center of it all in red. He brought it to his head and bowed slightly. He repeated the words of his clan that they all said before going into battle.  
  
"Grant me the courage to face my enemy, grant me the wisdom to fight my enemy, grant me the strength to defeat my enemy, grant me the chance to die with honor." He said in Japanese. Then he put on the headband tightly on his head. On his way out he picked up his keys to his bike and headed down stairs.  
  
He saw that Liz had come back and had put Benny's arm in a sling and he was out. Most likely she gave him something for the pain while she reset his arm. She saw him and moved to him. "Vince what are you up to?" She asked worried. She attempted to touch him but he pulled back.  
  
Vince knew that she was trying to 'read' him with her powers since she needed to touch to do that. "You really don't want to know." He said coldly. She was taken aback by his tone. She had never seen him like this and it was kind of scary. "I'm going for Benny. Liz I want you to get everything ready, we may have to abandon this place I think they knew about us, how else did they know Rick had the X-gene?"  
  
Liz thought about it. "But how? Unless a safe house was taken and they got the files but I haven't heard of anything...unless..." She trailed off at one very disturbing thought.  
  
"The Underground might have a traitor." Vince finished for her.  
  
He continued on when Shadow stood in his way. "I'm going with you. You need someone to watch your back and do you think you can just walk right into a base and walk out with Rick and defend him all at the same time?"  
  
Vincent thought about it, Shadow seemed determined to go and he knew he would just follow him anyway. "Fine gets your bike."  
  
Mary had watched this in silence. "Vince...bring him back." Vincent eyes softened a little as he looked at her and nodded. Then he went into the garage. Mary went up to Shadow. "You make sure they come back...and you better get back too mister or I swear I'll kill you." She told him tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
He hugged her close. "I will, and trust me I'll be back babe." She kissed him softly on the lips and he had to flash her his smile and went off to the garage. He saw Vincent had opened the garage door and was on his bike and Shadow got on his Vincent had to ask him.  
  
"Why are you really doing this?"  
  
Shadow snorted. "Am I that obvious?" He joked. Then his face got grim. "The last time I was on a mission like this a failed a good friend of mine. I never forgave myself for it. Maybe this is my way of redeeming myself, if we can get that kid out of that place then maybe I won't feel like I'm such a failure."  
  
Vince nodded and put on a helmet and gunned his bike, Shadow followed suit and they both drove off into the afternoon sun. They drove for an hour until they came to the edge of the base. They stopped in the distance on an old road that no one used. Well they did noticed fresh tire tracks so they knew someone still used it, and they had a good idea who.  
  
Vince pulled a pair of binoculars and looked at the sight. "Well what are we dealing with? Some rogue faction of the Canadian Forces, or something like Department H?"  
  
"They're not Canadian." He said passing him the binoculars.  
  
Shadow looked but couldn't see why. "How the hell can you tell?"  
  
"Their equipment." He said simply, Shadow looked again while Vince continued to explain. "Those are P90's, the latest personal assault rifles, and those are Rancor Jackhammer shotguns. The Canadian forces don't use those, those are weapons made for and used by US Special forces."  
  
"Ah Hell." Shadow said at the weapons. "You think they're Delta Force, or Seal Team 6 or something?"  
  
"More like Black ops." Vincent said to him.  
  
"Yeah...makes sense." Shadow said putting down the binoculars. "Which means these guys are purely trained killing machines...this should be fun." He said gravely.  
  
"We'll wait for dark then you cut a hole in the fence and sneak into that building there." Vince told him pointing to a large building. "That's most likely where the C&C is, and I want you to try and find out where they're keeping him."  
  
"And while I'm doing that what are you going to do?" He asked him.  
  
"I'll go through the front and make sure they're too busy to notice you." He said darkly. Shadow wasn't sure but he knew it was going to be one hell of a show. He looked at the setting sun. In about an hour they would move, he just hoped the kid would hold out until then.  
  
At night it began.  
  
Two guards were just walking in front of the gatehouse they didn't know what was going to happen. One moment they heard a sound of an engine and saw in the distance a motorcycle driving towards them at high speed. Then a crimson light suddenly came at them and the gatehouse exploded on impact, the guards were thrown aside from the sock wave, and the bike and the rider sped by and into the facility.  
  
Shadow watched the explosion from the other side of the compound. He saw searchlights and an alarm sound. He could see soldiers and vehicles start to mobilize. He formed a shadow blade and cut open the fence and made his way to the main building making sure to stay behind cover.  
  
He also caught some of the action on the way to. He saw Vincent stop his bike and jump off it and landed several meters away and throws off the helmet before he landed. He saw the troops begin firing at him, but all it did was mess up his clothing with holes.  
  
Then he really went into it. He was a blur of motion as he punched, kicked, and blasted his way through the troops. They were swatted aside like rag dolls, he saw soldiers fly into the air and many of them laying on the ground. Shadow wasn't sure whether they were dead or just knocked out, but personally he didn't care. As far as he was concerned these guys were getting what they deserved.  
  
He made his way into the building. He could still hear the action outside and felt the ground shake. 'I have no idea what that was but I do know who caused it and that I really hope it was expensive.' Shadow thought with a grin.  
  
He made his way and saw sighs on the wall, one of which said 'Command Center'. He couldn't help but smile. 'Got to love how the military makes this all so easy.' He thought and followed the way.  
  
He heard a lot of footsteps coming and ducked into a closet, he kept the door slightly opened and saw a lot of troops in black combat gear run by. After he made sure they were gone he quickly made his way to the command canter.  
  
He found a metallic door with the name 'command' on a small metallic sign next to it. He saw that there was a lock on the door that required a code to open it. "Damn it, it's never easy." He looked around then looked at the ceiling sighing. Then he noticed and air duct. "There's no way it can be that easy." He said.  
  
In the Command Center a man with Colonel insignia on his shoulders on a green uniform. "What the hell is happening out there?" He yelled at the men manning the security consoles.  
  
"I'm sorry sir but several of the cameras have been knocked out." A private said with an edge of fear in his voice.  
  
There was constant chatter through the communications on all the open channels._  
  
"This is Bravo Lead, we need more people out here this guy is-AHHH!"  
  
"I just hit the guy with grenade how's he still standing?"  
  
"Good God he just picked up that tank! LOOK OUT!" (A crash is heard)  
_  
_"Sir it's like World War III out here!"_  
  
There were more shouting and yelling over all the chaos. The Colonel stood and watched what he could. "He's getting in." He said grimly.  
  
"Sir shouldn't we call in all the field teams?" Someone asked him.  
  
He looked at his subordinate. "We were just given the order to take all the mutants in the area in one strike, even if we fail here the others will complete their mission...besides do you really think they would get here in time?"  
  
The man just gulped at the thought. Then there was a groaning sound and the ceiling fell in with some of the air ducts. As the dust settled Shadow crawled out and groaned. "That never happens in the movies." One of the men went for his gun, but Shadow threw a blade at his hand. "I wouldn't do that."  
  
Then he turned to the man in charge. "Now you took a kid that belonged to my friend out there and he wants him back. Now you can either tell us, or he'll just rip this place and anyone that gets in his way. Your choice."  
  
"You think I'll do have a mutie like you says?" The man said with pure hatred. Shadow just walked up to him and decked him onto the floor. He looked around and formed a very long and nasty looking blade. "So anyone else want to keep their mouth shut or do I have to 'convince' someone...please tell me I can start to try and 'convince' you lot."  
**  
OUTSIDE**  
  
Mayhem was just going on instinct right now. He didn't think just acted, he made his way into the main complex. Behind him were many craters, cracked and destroyed pavement, ruined and smoking vehicles and bodies all over the ground. Some were crawling away some just laid there.  
  
He didn't pay them any more notice. They wouldn't be a threat so they weren't relevant, he just moved on. He came to a hall and found a group of soldiers with their weapons ready. "Drop your weapons and leave and I'll let you live." He said coldly to them. Those that could see his eyes saw the cold fire that burned in them and flinched.  
  
They didn't run, but began to fire. "So be it." He said to himself. With his left hand he used this thumb to free the blade and took it with his right hand and unleashed it. He let out a mighty roar and charged forward. It was over in seconds.  
  
He made his way down the halls and defeated any opposition. "Hey Mayhem." He heard Shadow's voice call to him over the PA system. "I managed to find out where Rick is, I'll tell you were to go."  
  
It was easily enough to find the place and he found it sealed with a huge reinforced metal door. But that wouldn't stop him. The scientist inside were cowering at the reports they heard of the attack. Then the door to their lab started to groan. The bolts snapped off and flew off then the entire door was forced inward.  
  
They all stared in silence at Vincent's form walk in still hold his sword. They all noticed the blood on the blade and on the man and what was left of his clothing. "Where's the boy?" He asked them his voice flat.  
  
Vince looked around and saw all the kinds of equipment he'd seen in his worse nightmares. There were even tanks there and he saw a form in one of them. It was Rick. He was stripped down and had tubes going into him. He walked up to it and with a blur grabbed the nearest scientist by the throat. "Get him out of there or I will rip your heads off."  
  
They didn't argue and did what they were told. The tank drained itself and as they opened it took out all of the tubes. "Are there any more?" He asked one of them.  
  
"N-n-not anymore." One said. Vince's eyes narrowed and glared at the man. He didn't like the way that sounded. He noticed the man's eyes nervously flick to a door, and Vince put away the sword and picked Rick up and went to the door.  
  
It was a simple double door that easily pushed open. He was immediately hit with a foul stench and then he saw them. The bodies. Men, woman, even children. All of them dead, some looking like autopsies were being done on them, others were missing parts and some were unrecognizable. He felt the bile rise to his throat but pushed it back into his stomach.  
  
What he saw brought tears to his eyes. Then they started to glow and his face twisted in pure rage. He went back into the other room but found it empty. He let out a mighty blood thirsty roar in frustration at not being able to avenge those that had suffered.  
  
Shadow had to tie up the rest of the command staff and went to join up with Vince. Then he stopped at a hall at what he saw. It was littered with bodies, some had burn marks, others had slash marks too, others were bent at odd angles that he knew no human body should bend.  
  
"Damn." He silently swore to himself. "Now I really don't want to piss this guy off, I got off easy the first time." He moved down the halls seeing more evidence of his path. "At least this makes things easy."  
  
He found him in the halls carrying Rick who was wrapped up in the tattered remains of his coat. "Good you got him, is there anyone else?"  
  
Vince didn't say anything in face Shadow saw a faraway look in his eyes, but they soon returned to normal. "No." He said simply but by his town Shadow had a sinking feeling their used to be at one time, but not now.  
  
They made their way out of the facility. With most of the troops taken care of it was a lot easier getting out then in. Vincent got to his bike forgetting his helmet and held Rick in his arms.  
  
Rick moaned slightly and didn't look so good. He drove off with Shadow on his back then he let him off at his own bike and the two of them went off, leaving the smoking ruins of the base behind them as fires continued to burned.  
  
They managed to get to the house but what they saw they didn't like. They stopped at the corner and not only was their own van still there, but they saw three black vans parked outside. "Mary and the others." Shadow said quietly.  
  
Vincent pick up Rick and handed him to Shadow. "Look after him...I'm going to get the others. Stay here, if they're still there then I'll bring them back out."  
  
"What if they're not?" He asked.  
  
Vincent didn't answer him, he just started the bike and went to the house.

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 10: FLIGHT  
  
The last chapter is coming next.**


	10. Flight

BlackRoseApocalyps: Yeah they actually do. And I hope you like the final part of the story  
  
CHAPTER 10: FLIGHT  
  
Mary was nursing a bruise on her cheek, she was gathered in the living room with most of the others. C was hiding in her room hopefully but the others hadn't been so lucky. One moment it was all peaceful, and they were just finishing packing up, the van was ready to go and they were about to move Benny when they came.  
  
It was over so fast and they didn't have a chance to really do anything. Mary tried to attack them and managed to get two down before one of men in black combat gear hit her across the face with his weapon. He had gone down hard and now the soldiers had gathered them all.  
  
"Sir I've tried to reach the base to inform them of our progress but I'm not getting anything." One of them said to what Mary figured as his superior officer.  
  
The man who wore a mask looked at the other man. "Might be a communication problem then. Alright gather the mutants together and eliminate the humans, we don't need them and we don't want any witnesses."  
  
Mary's heart nearly stopped. She never thought that she could die like this, the only things she could thing of was how to save the kids, and where were Shadow and Vincent?  
  
"I don't think so." Said a cold and angry voice. Mary actually smiled.  
  
"You guys are so going to get your asses kicked now." She told them as they turned to face the new comer.  
  
Vincent had heard what they had said and no one tried to hurt his friends. The soldiers tried in vain to stop Vincent but he was too fast and powerful. One kick sent one man through a wall and one more punch sent another down a hall and he used an energy blast on another, the last few didn't last long either.  
  
He looked and counted off everyone. "Where's C?" He asked worried.  
  
Mary shook her head. "I think she's still in her room."  
  
"I'll get her you get the others out of here." He told her. Mary nodded slightly and the others tried to get up and carry Benny to the van. Vince ran up the stairs he would have used his super speed but after the base he was getting close to drained and was too tired to use it.  
  
He ran into C's room and found two soldiers trying to pick the little girl up. "Don't even think about it." He warned them. They turned and he could see little C more clearly. She was so scared and had tears falling from her eyes.  
  
One of the troopers pulled a handgun and actually aimed it at C. "Don't move or the I will shot."  
  
Vince just stared angrily at them. "You come into this home, attack no one that means you no harm, you try and take these children for something I know exactly what they will go through and now...you point a gun at a child." His voice went cold and emotionless.  
  
"C...close your eyes and don't open them until I say so." He told her. She nodded and quickly closed her eyes. Vince saw the confused expressions on their face. "What I'm about to do should never been seen by the eyes of a child."  
  
The two troopers knew at that point that pointing a gun at the kid was a big and their last mistake. C kept her eyes closed, but she heard the ring of his sword being drawn and heard the men shout out then there were two thumps and all was quiet. She heard the sword being put back in its holder and then being picked up. "Don't worry it's me." Vince whispered to her. His voice was once again warm and friendly. She hugged him closed tears falling. "Keep your eyes closed C."  
  
She couldn't respond put she nodded. She felt them move and then heard the door closed. "Alright it's okay now, open your eyes." She did and looked up at Vince's sad face.  
  
"Did...did you get Rick back from the bad men?" She asked him.  
  
Vince nodded. "Yes but he's very sick. We're all going to leave now before more bad people come." She hugged him closer and started to sniffle too.  
  
"Get away!" Mary's voice rang out then gunshots. Vince moved down the stairs and saw two more men by the door one on the floor with a bullet wound in the face. He saw Mary with a hand gun, mostly one of the weapons dropped by the assault team. Vince wasted no action and blasted the front door.  
  
It exploded in shards and the two men went flying. "Close your eyes again C until you've in the car." She did as she was told. He didn't want her to see the body in the floor. He handed her to Lisa. "Get everyone to the van now." He said. She nodded and the others followed her.  
  
He looked at Mary her hands shaking with the weapon tears falling down her face. "I-I had no choice they-they were going to..." She trailed off. Vincent took the weapon from her and put it on the ground then held his friend.  
  
"I know you did. There was no other way, Mary we need you now can you help Liz carry Benny to the van?" She nodded and she went up and to help Liz. Vincent went to the computer room and tapped in a special code. A timer started to appear on the digital readout and in thirty seconds the entire room would become an inferno destroying all the data inside, then soon the rest of the house would follow.  
  
He went outside and saw the van pull out he didn't take one last look at their home for over a year. They were running against the clock and all the commotion would bring the attention of the police and they didn't need that. He got on his bike and followed them down the street. Shadow followed them and they headed for outside of town at a meeting spot.  
  
It was a little out of the way place. It was basically just a gas station and a few buildings, even an old church. As they stopped Shadow put Rick who was running a fever in the van with Benny. Mary went right up to Shadow and hugged him close and he did the same.  
  
Vincent went off on his own. He went to the back of the station and then he allowed himself to think. He remembered everything he had just done, all the damage, all the killing. Then he fell to his knees and started to throw up. He emptied his entire stomach and for a few minutes it was just dry heaving.  
  
"Vincent?" HE turned and saw Liz coming towards him. "I think you should know Rick is stable but he needs help...are...are you okay?"  
  
Vince couldn't look at her. "I just did something I never wanted to do again...I feel like Hell." She said. His voice was shaky and weak. Liz had never seen him so distraught in the year she had known him. She didn't need to touch him to see how much he was hurting. you give me a moment...I...I just want to be alone right now." Tears were coming down his face and she turned without a word feeling so sad for her friend's pain.  
  
Vincent didn't know how long he was there, but he eventually got off the ground and walked off to the other side of the station. He saw the church and felt compelled to go. Maybe it was his Catholic upbringing and his life under Father Michaels or maybe he just wanted to be alone from the others.  
  
He walked in and saw no one was in but there were candles lighting the building with a soft light. He walked up to the altar and saw the crucifix behind it. He knelt down and pulled the sword still attached to his belt off and placed the end on the floor and rested his head on the hilt. Then he prayed. He used every one he had learned and said them out loud.  
  
He lost track of time, and he was lost in his praying, he just wanted to pain to go away, and to be forgiven for what he had done...but he knew he would never be able to forgive himself completely for what he had done.  
  
"What troubles you my son?" Came an elderly voice.  
  
Vince whipped around and nearly drew his sword. The priest flinched at the man. He looked ragged and his clothing were in shards and he saw drying blood on him in a few places and the sword was something unusual. But when he looked into the face all he was a young man in great pain, and had no malice towards him.  
  
"I-I'm sorry...I leave you." Vince said and walked off, but the priest touched his arm gently.  
  
"What troubles you?" He asked concerned.  
  
"You don't want to know." He told him.  
  
"Please, there is much pain in you, if would help to unburden the cross you bear." He didn't know why but he started to tell him. He told him that he was a mutant and what had happened that day, he told him of his own experience in a lab and everything.  
  
"Why...why must there be so much hate, pain and suffering in this world?" He asked the priest nearly desperate for an answer.  
  
"I wish I knew." Said the elderly man, he sighed and took off his glasses. "I may not sound like it, but I had lost my accent over the years. But as a boy my family was in Germany. I remember little of my homeland but I do remember they day in my town when the American troops came and took everyone in the town.  
  
"They took us to a place I didn't know existed." Vince could see tears coming from the old man. "It was one of the camps where they kept the Jews in the war...and they had us bury all the bodies. It was horrible the smell and the bodies...they didn't even look human anymore, they had been starved and beaten so badly. My father actually cried himself to sleep after that day, it was the first time I remember him ever doing that."  
  
"Not long we left Germany and emigrated to here. I supposed they were ashamed of what our fellow countrymen had done...so I know full well the evils in men. I guess I became a priest to help people to stay into the light I guess."  
  
"After what you said I...I can't blame you for your actions. You did what you did for the love of a child under your care and unlike the men you fought you feel horrible and feel the pain of your actions. Do you think they would feel the same?"  
  
"Not likely." Vincent said to him.  
  
"You did what you thought you had to do, and I can see the pain it caused you. I know you didn't like what you had to do, and I know God can forgive you if you want it."  
  
"I'm not sure I do." Vince said to himself.  
  
The priest put a hand on his shoulder. "It is a difficult thing you had to do and I know you may never get over it completely, you seem the type to keep the wound and scars of your life." Vince thought about all the scars on his body and how they must match the ones inside.  
  
"But know this...A young boy is alive and well and you saved others and may have prevented who know what horrors. I'm not saying what you did was good or that it should be done all the time. But in this instance did you really have any other choice in the matter?"  
  
"I couldn't let him die...to let him go through all of that...I couldn't live with myself after it." Vince said quietly.  
  
"Then take that knowledge with you, and may you find peace." He said to him.  
  
Later that night.  
  
Everyone had gathered around the van. The twins were holding hands and with the free hand holding their medallions under their shirts. Liz was holding C and Lisa had her arms around her little sister Kate.  
  
Benny awake and was on the edge of the sliding door leaning against the frame. Vincent who had cleaned up in the station's bathroom and put on a new shirt, Shadow and Mary were outside standing. "So what now? I mean if the Underground is under attack and if there's a leak then where can we go? Who can we trust?" Liz asked them.  
  
"I know of a place that's a fortress and can take care of everyone, and they're not really part of the Underground either." Shadow said to them.  
  
"Xavier's." Vincent said to him.  
  
Shadow looked a little disappointed that he didn't get to surprise everyone with that, but shrugged it off. "Yeah, I still drop by there from time to time and I know the code to get us past the gates and into the mansion without the defenses going on-line and trying to toast us."  
  
The others looked at each other trying to read each other's expressions. "Well I know a guy who can get us across the boarder without too much trouble." Mary said to them. "He wasn't in the Underground files, so they wouldn't know about them."  
  
"Then I guess it's settled." Vince said to them all. "We need to get Rick some medical treatment and they got the equipment needed and it's a safe place...I just hope someone is home by the time we get there."  
  
"Hey why would Xavier or the X-Men leave? It's their home I doubt they would just pick up and leave, and if they did, where to?" Shadow offered. "Besides what are the odds of the entire mansion being empty when we get there, the place is full of mutants."  
  
THE END...? 


End file.
